Severe Weather Impact: McKay and Central Coast Whitsundays

Severe Weather events impact service in Mackay and part of the Central Coast-Whitsundays District of Queensland.

QTelecom is working to manage the significant impact to services that has occurred as a result of a series of severe weather events in Mackay and part of the Central Coast-Whitsundays District of Queensland on or about Wednesday 15 February 2017.

Due to the effect of damage to the telecommunications network by severe thunderstorms, there has been a significant increase in the number of services being reported as faulty. As a result, there has been some disruption to service and delays to normal installation and repair activities.

QTelecom apologises to any affected customers.

Information as to the nature of these severe weather events can be sourced from the Early Warning Network at http://www.ewn.com.au/alerts/. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding is referred to within this site for Wednesday 15 February 2017; all of which were reported in the news media after the events.

Based on current information, the resumption date of normal service operations is expected to be 12 March 2017. This date is indicative only, however, and may be subject to change once the full impact of the severe weather conditions has been assessed. QTelecom regrets any inconvenience caused to customers and thanks them for their patience while this work is being undertaken.

Services encompassed in this exemption are in the area bounded by and including, but is not limited to, the area starting at St Helens Beach following the coastline south past Mackay to Dunnrock then southwest to Hazledean. From Hazledean the area heads northwest to Dalrymple Heights then northeast back to St Helens Beach. All suburbs and towns, off shore islands and coastal areas serviced within these boundaries are encompassed in this exemption.

Services in the area mentioned above with phone numbers in the following number ranges may have been affected:

07 4840 0000 To 07 4842 9999

07 4940 0000 To 07 4969 7999

07 4862 2000 To 07 4862 2999

07 4998 5000 To 07 4998 9999

07 4898 0000 To 07 4898 6999

As these circumstances were outside of QTelecom’s control, QTelecom is claiming an exemption from compliance with time frames and performance standards required under the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011. Therefore QTelecom is notifying customers that normal installation and repair time frames may not be met during the period from 15 February 2017 to 12 March 2017 inclusive (based on estimated recovery schedule correct at the time of publication of this notice) and, under section 21 of the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011,QTelecom will be exempt from complying with performance standards during this period.